[The Outsider]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-re...li=BBnb7Kz

However, Woodward and Costa’s account—or at least the Post’s summary of it—may be incomplete. On Wednesday, Jonathan Swan reported in Axios that the back channel with China was opened not by Milley but rather by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper—a more constitutionally proper arrangement. Esper’s intent was simply to assure the Chinese—whose intelligence agencies were warning of an imminent U.S. attack—that an attack was not in the works. Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin cited senior Defense Department officials confirming this was the case. Swan also characterized Milley’s conversation with Li a bit differently from Woodward and Costa. According to a source who is “familiar” with those conversations, Milley said “something to the effect of: ‘We’ll both know if we’re going to war … there’s not gonna be some surprise attack, and there’s no reason for you to do a preemptive strike.” That’s a lot less bizarre than a promise to give China a heads-up on a surprise attack. Swan’s account, if true, is completely normal.